Add Google +1 to your pages to help your site stand out

By now you’ve heard the buzz about the new Social Media giant on the horizon. Perhaps you’ve already gotten in and played with Google+? If you need an invitation just leave me a comment with your email and I’ll be happy to send you one.

Some say Google+ (plus.google.com) will replace Facebook and Twitter. And while I’m certainly not leaping to that conclusion just yet, now is definitely the time to climb on the proverbial bandwagon and give Google+ a spin.

Also, if you have a website or a blog, there is something super simple you’ll want to do right away, and that is add a Google +1 button to your site & posts. You’ll see there’s one on the top of my sidebar for my page, but why not also include them in posts?

Why Put Google +1 on Your Site?

How does +1 affect search results? +1 helps people discover relevant content—a website, a Google search result, or an ad—from the people they already know and trust. Adding the +1 button to your pages lets users recommend your content, knowing that their friends and contacts will see their recommendation when it’s most relevant—in the context of Google search results. When a signed-in Google user is searching, your Google search result snippet may be annotated with the names of the user’s connections who’ve +1’d your page. If none of a user’s connections has +1’d your page, your snippet may display the aggregate number of +1’s your page has received.

Does +1 affect my site’s performance in search? Content recommended by friends and acquaintances is often more relevant than content from strangers. For example, a movie review from an expert is useful, but a movie review from a friend who shares your tastes can be even better. Because of this, +1’s from friends and contacts can be a useful signal to Google when determining the relevance of your page to a user’s query. This is just one of many signals Google may use to determine a page’s relevance and ranking, and we’re constantly tweaking and improving our algorithm to improve overall search quality. For +1’s, as with any new ranking signal, we’ll be starting carefully and learning how those signals affect search quality.

How will the +1 button affect my traffic? Personalized annotations next to your page in search results may increase your site’s visibility and make your site’s snippet more compelling, which may in turn increase the odds that users will click through to your page.

Source: www.google.com/webmasters

How to Add Google+ to a page

Basically this is similar to clicking “like” on Facebook. I’ve one of those on the top left of this post, btw. So how do you add Google +1 as an option for your readers. Simply copy and paste the following code into your site and it will generate a button like this:

<!-- Place this tag in your head or just before
your close body tag -->
<script type="text/javascript"
src="https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js"></script>
<!-- Place this tag where you want the +1
button to render -->
<g:plusone></g:plusone>

Note: I put both parts of the code in a plain old text widget that you’ll find at the top center of my page. On subsequent pages I need only add the <g:plusone></g:plusone> which is what I did to generate the +1 just above the code.

p.s. If you found this post helpful, please click the +1 if you haven’t already. Thanks so much!

Thanks, Mitzi. I’m still muddling my way through both the +1 option and Google+. It’s quite interesting, and I’m looking forward to what Google is going to use to really make people make the investment in a new SM platform.

Thanks for the explanation. I have to admit that my website is “World’s Worst Moms” and I’m also “World’s Worst Social Networker,” so most of this stuff kind of makes my head spin. But here’s a question: doesn’t this just add yet another thing that I’m asking people to click or do when they come to my site? I mean, at this point, I’m hoping for a comment, a like, a follow, an email subscription, a stumble, a digg. How much can one reader do? It seems like I’m just diluting the pool.

I suppose if a visitor likes your blog you want them to do two things. 1) Come back again (thus subscribing via their tool of choice… thus I give them as many options as possible, as everyone has their own preference). And 2) we hope they will share something they like with others. Facebook, Twitter, Google +1, etc help do both number 1 & 2 by notifying friends of something cool they found… but also allowing them to follow you if they wish. Not everyone uses each, so again offering a mix makes sense to me. Google+ and +1 is of course very new, but I’m seeing huge buy in from some big hitters, so I’d not write it off. I’d never expect a single visitor to do all options, of course, per your question.

When it was in Beta you needed an invitation. Not sure if you still do. If you have a google account (e.g. gmail) login and go to plus.google.com. See if that works. It’s worth poking around a bit. It’s going to be big.

Sorry for my delay in responding. We’ve been traveling with our 2 year old. 4 flights. She did great. Per your question, you need only place the following code on your page, e.g in an HTML widget or even in a blog, as I did above.

<!– Place this tag in your head or just before
your close body tag –>
<script type=”text/javascript”
src=”https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js”></script>

<!– Place this tag where you want the +1
button to render –>
<g:plusone></g:plusone>

Thanks, Miranda. If you mean the larger 150×150 graphic I just photoshopped (is that a word/verb yet?) that from a couple elements I found on Google proper. Figured they wouldn’t mind as I was promoting their new service. You’re welcome to download and host it on your site if you’d like.

Google +1 is great. It should hopefully help folks get more targeted hits off their search engine too when folks +1 the articles they like so a car site gets more car link juice, daddy blog more daddy juice, etc.. Good stuff more promotion means can never hurt the cause!

Well said Steve. Yes, that’s one of the main benefits. Also, @ChrisBrogan says he’s getting more hits on his site coming from Google+ now than Twitter, but then he’s jumped in with both feet. Thanks so much for commenting!

The jury is still very much out on Google+, but I’d say one cannot lose by having ways visitors can flag your posts via the +1 button I’m talking about here. Both are from Google and have a “plus” in the name, but they need not be used together, though clearly would be better if they are. As Google said,”+1’s from friends and contacts can be a useful signal to Google when determining the relevance of your page to a user’s query.” I sent you an invitation and added you to one of my circles (that will make more sense once you are on there). Enjoy!

You are very welcome. I hope you and you readers find it helpful. I’d also point out that now Google’s +1 is getting more established many of the blog plug-ins support it as part of sharing options, so manually coding it may not be necessary in some cases.

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Hi! I'm Michael, the founder and editor of adaddyblog.com. I'm a university director by day and a lifestyle blogger by night. More than anything, I'm a husband and a dad. This site targets parenthood from the dad’s perspective, and includes a big focus on family travel, entertainment, technology, social media, coffee, cars & cuddles. ;) Leave a comment on one of my posts and let me know you were here, or connect with me on any of the site icons along the top left of this page!